San Diego  Owners showed up early Wednesday to clean gunk and grime from their businesses after water main breaks flooded parts of North Park and Hillcrest a day earlier.

Joey Busalacchi, 30, spent the morning hosing mud away from the entrance to his Italian restaurant, Busalacchi’s A Modo Mio, on Fifth Avenue, he said.

The mess occured after two water mains burst within an hour of each other on Tuesday, said water department spokesman Arian Collins.

The first water pipe burst about 3:10 p.m. beneath Fifth Avenue south of Pennsylvania Avenue in Hillcrest, causing floods of mud and water into buildings.

Customers along five blocks of Fifth Avenue lost their water service while crews made repairs. usiness owners like Busalacchi were forced to close up shop for the day.

Another water line burst less than an hour later near Oregon and Meade streets in North Park, shutting down water service for 16 customers, Collins said.

The roads were closed during repairs and reopened Wednesday morning.

Busalacchi said he was forced to cancel reservations because of the flooding, a disappointing loss during San Diego Restaurant Week.

His was one of the lucky businesses that wasn’t damaged, but the canceled reservations hit hard.

“It’s still a loss of business and it’s just like being damaged,” he said.

Viri Rubio, an owner of Huapangos, a Mexican Restaurant on Fifth Avenue, said her business wasn’t so lucky. The water main burst directly in front of her restaurant and flooded her patio, she said. Some of her wooden furniture may have been damaged.

“You could hear the street breaking and opening,” she said. “My customers on the patio screamed and ran away.”

Rubio said she also lost reservations.

Water department crews are investigating a possible connection between the breaks, but it may have been a coincidence, Collins said.